SB Nation - Courtney Bryan

Final Roster Predictions

Matty I — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:30:35 -0000

After a long, grueling training camp and preseason, some players will no longer be Miami Dolphins as of 4 pm eastern on Saturday. The Dolphins went into Thursday's preseason finale with 66 players on their roster. They must be down to 53 players by the 4 pm deadline.

Below is my final roster prediction. I've included some explanations after my prediction. Check it out and then tell us your final predictions.

	1st Team	2nd Team	3rd Team
QB	Chad Pennington	Chad Henne	Pat White
RB	Ronnie Brown	Ricky Williams	Patrick Cobbs
FB	Lousaka Polite
WR	Ted Ginn	Greg Camarillo	Brandon London
WR	Davone Bess	Brian Hartline	Patrick Turner
TE	Anthony Fasano	David Martin	John Nalbone
LT	Jake Long	Andrew Gardner
LG	Justin Smiley	Brandon Frye
C	Jake Grove	Joe Berger
RG	Donald Thomas	Shawn Murphy
RT	Vernon Carey
	1st Team	2nd Team	3rd Team
DE	Kendall Langford	Tony McDaniel
NT	Jason Ferguson	Paul Soliai
DE	Randy Starks	Phillip Merling	Lionel Dotson
SOLB	Jason Taylor	Charlie Anderson	Quentin Moses
ILB	Channing Crowder	Reggie Torbor
ILB	Akin Ayodele
WOLB	Joey Porter	Cameron Wake	Erik Walden
CB	Will Allen	Vontae Davis	Jason Allen
CB	Sean Smith	Nathan Jones
S	Yeremiah Bell	Chris Clemons
S	Gibril Wilson	Tyrone Culver
	1st Team	2nd Team	3rd Team
K	Dan Carpenter
P	Brandon Fields
LS	John Denney

PUP: Matt Roth
Last 5 On: Brandon London, Erik Walden, John Nalbone, Brandon Frye, Quentin Moses
First 5 Off: Lex Hilliard, William Kershaw, Joey Haynos, Courtney Bryan, Nate Garner

Quick explanations:

The final roster spot, for me, came down to Brandon London, Lex Hilliard, and William Kershaw. But I think Kershaw could still make the team if the Dolphins decide to only keep five outside linebackers as opposed to six - possibly in place of Erik Walden or Quentin Moses. I think they'll try to sneak Hilliard onto the practice squad. The bottom line is that London is more valuable in terms of the number of plays he sees on gameday because of special teams. Although, truth be told, regardless of if it's London or Hilliard, I'm not sure either is a lock to be active on gameday.
I'm confident that the Dolphins will keep three tight ends. Some think David Martin could be a surprise cut, but he's still head and shoulders better than either John Nalbone or Joey Haynos. With the number of two TE sets Dan Henning uses, I don't see why the Dolphins would need to cut Martin. You could see the Dolphins keep Haynos over Nalbone, though - which would mean Nalbone is a prime practice squad candidate. But I also wouldn't be shocked to see another team (Kansas City or Cincinnati, for example) poach Nalbone off wiavers. Both teams have a need at tight end. I wouldn't even take the risk, if I were the Dolphins - which is why Nalbone is on my final 53.
I think Dotson has shown enough to earn a roster spot. But barring injury, he's likely going to be inactive on most gamedays.
I wouldn't be shocked if the Dolphins decided to waive Andrew Gardner in favor of Nate Garner. If that's the case, the Dolphins would obviously hope to get Gardner on the practice squad.
If I had to come up with a list of possible practice squad candidates based on my 53-man roster prediction above, I'd say J.D. Folsom and Lex Hilliard would be locks. Mark Lewis and James Robinson would be other possibilities. And I'd expect the Dolphins to go outside the organization for other potential guys.

The remaining roster battles in Miami

Matty I — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:15:10 -0000

The Dolphins must get their roster down to 53 players by Saturday afternoon. In between now and then, the players have just one final opportunity to make their own particular cases - their preseason finale in New Orleans on Thursday night. For some, it will be a final chance to prove they should be starting. For others, it will be one last opportunity to prove to the coaches and front office that they deserve roster spots.

Here are some of the final battles to keep in the back of your minds as you watch Thursday's finale:

Greg Camarillo vs Davone Bess vs Brian Hartline
Barring something unforeseen, all three of these receivers will make the team. However, only one can start opposite of Ted Ginn on September 13 when the Dolphins travel to Atlanta. Bess worked with the first-team offense for much of the early parts of camp and started to open the preseason. But Brian Hartline has spent much of his time working with the starters since the week before the second preseason game and hasn't looked back - starting both of the last two preseason games. Hartline right now leads the Dolphins in receiving yards and yards per reception during the preseason. He also most closely fits the mold of what Tony Sparano wants out of the starting receiver opposite of Teddy - a guy who can pick up chunks of yardage at a time. Meanwhile, Camarillo continues to linger in the background as he gets closer and closer to being 100%. It was clear to me that he's still not physically back to where he was at before his knee injury when we saw him chugging down field last game for his 50+ yard catch and run. However, Camarillo did get some first-team reps on Tuesday.

I still think that Hartline is probably the favorite right now to start with Bess working as the team's primary slot receiver - his ideal position, to be honest. But a big game from Camarillo on Thursday night and/or a rough game for Hartline could change how the starting lineup looks in Atlanta in less than two weeks.

Lex Hilliard vs Brandon London
I've looked at the roster a number of ways and just don't see how it's possible that the Dolphins can keep both of these guys on the 53-man roster. A fourth halfback and a sixth receiver are both luxuries and there's no room on this team for two luxury players like that. I think it'll be either one or the other (if any) and the deciding factor could be special teams.

Hilliard leads all Miami backs with 126 yards rushing and a 4.3 ypc average. He opened a lot of eyes in the team's second preseason game when he showed a very nice burst through the hole on his 39 yard TD run against Carolina. It's rare you see a 240 pound power back with that kind of acceleration. But he has put the ball on the ground two times in just 29 carries, which is unacceptable. Meanwhile, London has just 2 catches for 22 yards in the preseason. However, the 6'4 receiver has a lot of physical talent and has at least proven he can make a big play in a regular season game (yes, I'm talking about his huge 3rd down catch against the Jets in the regular season finale last year). That's more than you can say about Hilliard. But is one big reception and a ton of upside enough to stick on the roster? And at what point does potential turn into disappointment?

Like I said, though, this battle could come down to special teams. London was excellent on the coverage unit last season. Hilliard, though, has put together a solid preseason special teams performance. Tony Sparano even admitted so last week when speaking to the media.

Another thing to keep in mind is the practice squad. Lex Hilliard is eligible to go on Miami's practice squad. But he'd first have to make it through waivers without any other team signing him - which is no safe bet. On the other hand, London is not eligible for the practice squad because he dressed for 14 games last season with the Dolphins. So the Dolphins would have to cut their ties with Brandon if they choose not to keep him on the final 53-man roster. Because of that, I'd leaning more towards the Dolphins keeping Brandon around and attempting to sneak Hilliard through to the practice squad. But I'm far from confident in that prediction right now.

John Nalbone vs Joey Haynos
I'm fairly confident that the Dolphins will indeed keep three tight ends on their roster. Dan Henning loves using two tight end sets and wouldn't be able to if one of the two went down to injury in the middle of the game. While neither of these two players have set themselves apart from the other, I've been impressed with how well John Nalbone has blocked. He also has shown improved hands in camp following a very poor showing at OTAs and minicamps earlier in the summer. However, he's still raw and Joey Haynos has been in the system longer. You also can't duplicate Joey's size (6'8, 270). It was believed that this regime really liked Haynos. But why then did the Dolphins spend a fifth round pick on the rookie TE from Monmouth?

A possible solution here could be to keep Haynos on the team and try slipping Nalbone through waivers. After all, he's only a tight end and nobody poaches tight ends. Wrong - the Dolphins did that very thing to Green Bay last year by poaching Haynos off of their practice squad. And about a third of the league worked out Nalbone prior to the draft. If the Dolphins waive him and try to slip him by, they could lose him. On the other hand, Haynos is not eligible for Miami's practice squad. So keeping Nalbone would mean saying goodbye to Haynos.

I expect both of these guys to get a lot of playing time on Thursday night to give the coaches some good film to review on Friday as they make their decision. But you all know me - I'm taking Nalbone here.

QUICK HITS
Now for some quick hits on different roster possibilities:

Play who was once a long shot and is now a virtual lock: Quentin Moses
Did anybody see this coming? Sure, Jason Taylor benefited a lot from Matt Roth's injury because he's now entrenched as the starter. But Moses was expected by many to be out of a job in a few days when camp began. But with solid play both in practice and in games, he's secured his roster spot as the primary backup strong-side linebacker. He's done an excellent job of creating pressure as well as setting the edge. If I'm Matt Roth, I'm expecting a huge "thank you" card from Moses in the coming week.

Possible surprise cut: Charlie Anderson
With Cameron Wake taking over the role of primary reserve pass-rusher, Anderson will see less playing time. And his dumb mistake last week against Tampa on special teams isn't going to help his cause, either. He's got a hefty 2009 price tag and is yet to live up to his contract. While I don't think Anderson will definitely be cut, I also wouldn't be surprised to see him receive a pink slip - especially if he makes any more bonehead plays on Thursday night.

Possible sleeper to make the team: Courtney Bryan
Keeping five safeties is rare. But Bryan is a solid special teams contributor who isn't a total liability in coverage like other teams' backup safeties usually are. He's got good instincts and is a hard worker - the kind of player this regime loves. And you never know...

Dolphins Depth Chart Bubble Watch, V. 4

Matty I — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:00:15 -0000

With one preseason game in the books and another just days away, the depth chart is starting to come a little bit more into focus. So I figured it's time to update the "depth chart bubble watch" to reflect what we saw on the field on Monday night.

Again, just incase you haven't seen this before, the idea behind it is simple - to put together a projected 53-man roster and to highlight which players I feel are on pace to just barely make the team and which just miss the cut. And it's important to note that this is not how I predict the roster will look once the preseason comes to a close. Instead, it's simply a snapshot that examines how Miami's 53-man roster might look if the cuts were to be done at this very moment.

The depth chart and some notes can be found below right after the jump...

	1st Team	2nd Team	3rd Team
QB	Chad Pennington	Chad Henne	Pat White
RB	Ronnie Brown	Ricky Williams	Patrick Cobbs
FB	Lousaka Polite
WR	Ted Ginn	Patrick Turner
WR	Davone Bess	Greg Camarillo	Brian Hartline
TE	Anthony Fasano	David Martin	John Nalbone
LT	Jake Long
LG	Justin Smiley	Andy Alleman
C	Jake Grove	Joe Berger
RG	Donald Thomas	Shawn Murphy
RT	Vernon Carey	Nate Garner
	1st Team	2nd Team	3rd Team
DE	Kendall Langford	Tony McDaniel
NT	Jason Ferguson	Paul Soliai
DE	Randy Starks	Phillip Merling	Lionel Dotson
SOLB	Jason Taylor	Quentin Moses	Erik Walden
ILB	Channing Crowder	Reggie Torbor
ILB	Akin Ayodele
WOLB	Joey Porter	Cameron Wake	Charlie Anderson
CB	Will Allen	Vontae Davis	Jason Allen
CB	Sean Smith	Nathan Jones
S	Yeremiah Bell	Chris Clemons
S	Gibril Wilson	Tyrone Culver	Courtney Bryan
	1st Team	2nd Team	3rd Team
K	Dan Carpenter
P	Brandon Fields
LS	John Denney

PUP: Matt Roth
Last 5 On: Jason Allen, Courtney Bryan, Nate Garner, John Nalbone, Erik Walden
First 5 Off: Brandon London, Andrew Gardner, Chris Williams, Ernest Wilford, Anthony Armstrong
Next 5 Off: Ike Ndukwe, Joey Haynos, William Kershaw, Brandon Frye, Connor Barth

Some quick notes on this:

The release of Eric Green made room for me to keep Courtney Bryan. The coaches like the kid a lot. He can play either safety spot and is a solid special teams player. But the Dolphins could go with six receivers instead of a fifth safety. Or they could actually bring in a free agent cornerback - there are some veterans with lots of experience currently available.
I can't say I have any real idea how the outside linebacker position will shake out. At this point, we know Taylor, Porter, and Wake will make this team. Roth will as well - but could start the year on the PUP list if he doesn't practice soon or is unable to consistently practice. As for the others, it's anyone's guess. None of the 2nd or 3rd stringers outside of Wake really "flashed" on Monday.
You can't help but wonder what happens if Chris Williams continues to get better as a return man. Could he be the 6th receiver on the roster despite only having one real role? If London or Armstrong don't show something during preseason games, I wouldn't be shocked.
I like Andrew Gardner but he didn't play much on Monday. It makes you wonder if the Dolphins are trying to hide him from other teams so they can sneak him onto their practice squad. As I have it now, Vernon Carey would swap to LT if, heaven forbid, Jake Long went down.
Ernest Wilford may have made a play on Monday night - but anyone could have really made that play. It was broken coverage and Wilford took advantage. But I was really impressed with John Nalbone's blocking while working with the second-team offense. And he's reportedly been much more consistent catching the ball in practice. Right now, I think he's got the inside track for the final TE spot.

Defense leads the way as Dolphins win preseason opener

Matty I — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:59:46 -0000

More photos » by J Pat Carter - AP

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I know it's only the preseason, but it's always good to get a win. On Monday night, that's just what the Dolphins did, knocking off the Jaguars 12-9. And before I get into all of my initial thoughts on the game, I just got to point out that Jack Del Rio did a very classy move by not kicking the field goal on fourth and goal late in the 4th quarter. Nobody wants to see a player get hurt in overtime of a preseason game. So I'm very glad he decided to go for it - and nice job by Courtney Bryan to break up the pass in the corner of the endzone.

Now then, onto some thoughts from Miami's win - both good and bad. But keep in mind that the first preseason game is essentially just a glorified scrimmage.

THE DEFENSE SHINES
Here's a key stat. The first-team defense played together for the entire first quarter of Monday's game. The Jaguars ran 11 plays against Miami's first-team defense. The Dolphins surrendered just 28 yards of offense on those 11 plays and only one first down - forcing two three-and-outs. Now that is impressive.

During those three series, they tallied one sack and pressured Jaguars QB David Garrard a couple of other times. On one play, Channing Crowder blitzed and basically drove the running back picking up the blitz into Garrard's face, forcing an incomplete pass. But a major reason for the defense's success - including Jason Ferguson's sack (which was more or less a coverage sack) was rookie Sean Smith's performance. On the particular play that resulted in the sack, Smith did an excellent job keeping Torry Holt - Garrard's primary target on that play - inside of him when Torry was trying to get to the outside. That's a veteran move by a rookie against a veteran receiver.

Speaking of Smith, he also made a terrific interception in the third quarter of a Todd Bouman pass in the endzone. The big question scouts had about Sean entering the draft was how he would be tackling players at the next level. Some said he was scared of contact. But Smith did not shy away from contact on the only tackle opportunity he had, making the tackle. All in all, Smith was probably the player of the game for the Dolphins.

Getting back to the first-team defense, there's a lot of concern about how the defensive line would shape up. Would they be able to effectively limit the opponent's ground game? Keeping in mind that Jacksonville's offensive line is probably an average unit at best, the Dolphins answered that question with a resounding "yes" on Monday night. They held the Jaguars to 10 yards on 3 rushes. A small sample size, of course - but a good sign, nonetheless.

Nate Jones also deserves a mention, too. He was very good at blitzing from the nickel corner spot last year. On Monday, Jones showed he still has a knack for getting to the QB as a blitzer, forcing an incomplete pass on 3rd down to end a drive when he got to Garrard.

OFFENSE PRODUCES MIXED RESULTS
The offense on Monday night was really a mixed bag. There were good moments. There were bad moments. And all in all, I don't think it was really a positive night for the offense.

Heading the list of issues was the offensive line. In pass protection, the first-team line performed very well. But we all have been expecting that the Dolphins would be able to run the ball between the tackles in 2009 thanks to the acquisition of Jake Grove and the return of Justin Smiley and Donald Thomas to the field after season-ending injuries in 2008. But this unit failed to produce on Monday against the formidable Jaguars defensive front.

Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams combined for just 41 yards rushing on 14 carries - a measly 2.9 yards per carry average. Brown and Williams rarely had any kind of lane ot run through. On one play, Jake Long even got beat badly - resulting in a loss for Williams. I also noticed Vernon Carey getting beat a couple of times on rushing attempts. This was not the kind of effort I was hoping to see out of this unit and I'll be anxiously awaiting Saturday night for the next preseason game to see if the unit improves over yesterday's performance.

As far as the battle for the starting right guard job goes, neither Shawn Murphy nor Donald Thomas (who rotated in and out) really stood out. Just from watching the broadcast, I may have been slightly more impressed by Thomas because he seemed to get more push. But the competition is probably still wide open and likely far from over.

On the plus side, Ted Ginn Jr. looked very good out there on Monday. He ran some crisp routes - especially on a third-and-one play against Pro Bowl corner Rashean Mathis, running a terrific post and making an exceptional catch. All told, Ginn looked confident and produced - tallying 2 receptions for 26 yards, one rush for 14 yards on an end-around, and drawing a 30+ yard pass interference call on a long pass attempt down the left sideline from Chad Pennington. He also had a 15 yard reception called back due to holding - meaning the Dolphins called Ginn's number five times in one quarter. Not bad for a guy many fans wanted to write off. Hopefully this early success translates to the regular season.

As for the quarterbacks, neither Chad Pennington nor Chad Henne played very well. But neither played bad, either. Pennington made a couple of nice passes, especially his pass to Ginn on 3rd-and-one for 15 yards. But he was far from classic CP. Meanwhile, Henne made a couple of notable plays. His 20 yard strike to Brian Hartline comes to mind right away. On that same drive, he made a beautiful pass to Ricky Williams on a wheel route in the endzone that hit Ricky in the hands. But he was unable to haul it in - which doesn't happen often to Williams. He also connected with Ernest Wilford for a 33 yard touchdown. It wasn't the throw, though, that impressed me on that play. You or I could have made the throw. It's the fact that Henne was under immense pressure and had three defenders bearing down on him. He stood in the pocket, kept his eyes down the field, and found an open man. Good stuff.

Of course, Henne was also intercepted on a pass that he had no business making. But it's the preseason and he's young - so let's not get crazy.

QUICK HITS
Some quick thoughts on Monday's preseason opener:

Cameron Wake can rush the passer. We don't know what else he can do at this point, but he showed great burst and strength when rushing off the edge.
Patrick Turner led the team in receptions, catching three balls. He showed good hands but failed to bring in a pass in which he was surrounded by Jacksonville defenders. And that's what I'm hoping to see from Turner - the ability to make tough catches in traffic.
Eric Green really struggled. He was targeted numerous times and actually allowed three straight completions at one point. He's losing ground in the battle at cornerback right now.
Vontae Davis didn't perform much better. He was called for three penalties in the game - two were on special teams and the other was a pass interference call. You can bet the coaches will rip into him a bit for those. He also allowed himself to be blocked by a receiver on that screen pass that the Jaguars ran that would have been a TD if not for a holding call. Davis was being manhandled in the endzone by Tiquan Underwood, a 178 pound rookie from Rutgers. Vontae has to learn to shed that block and make a play.
Brandon London and Anthony Armstrong had quiet nights while Chris Williams made some plays as the return man. Could Williams actually make the roster as the team's 6th receiver? Possibly. He averaged 31 yards on 4 kickoff returns but wasn't as comfortable handling punt returns.
We got our first taste of Pat White and it was a solid debut. He made a few plays with his legs. He completed only 2 of 7 passes - but was a victim of some drops, including one that resulted in an interception. But I'm not quite sure why so many are raving over White's debut. I didn't see anything spectacular yet.
Seven penalties are too many - especially when some of them are committed in the redzone.
Here are the numbers for the kicking competition. Dan Carpenter drilled a 48 yard field goal. However, he slipped on an extra point attempt off the wet infield dirt. Connor Barth connected on his field goal attempt from 27. On kickoffs, Carp averaged 67 yards per kick on three kicks. Barth kicked one for 65 yards. Just for point of reference, a 65 yard kick is fielded at the 5 yard line; a 67 yard kick is fielded at the 3. Carpenter was the only one to reach the endzone, with his opening kick going 4 yards deep in the endzone.

So that's all for my initial reaction to Miami's preseason opener. We'll definitely talk more about this game as the week goes on. All told, though, it was football - and we can all agree that that's a positive.